Oliver Wang
Oliver Wang is an culture writer, scholar, and DJ based in Los Angeles. He's the author of Legions of Boom: Filipino American Mobile DJ Crews of the San Francisco Bay Area and a professor of sociology at CSU-Long Beach. He's the creator of the audioblog soul-sides.com and co-host of the album appreciation podcast, Heat Rocks.
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Steven Ellison has built an impressive reputation among critics and fans in the know for mixing hip hop, jazz and electronica into something original. But even for the aforementioned followers, the new album from Ellison — better-known as Flying Lotus — is a surprise. It's all about death, not as something to be mourned but as a journey to be anticipated.
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On an unlikely tribute album, singer Dionne Farris and guitarist Charlie Hunter tackle Warwick classics with revealing subtlety — and nods to the musicians' own origins in early-'90s rap.
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After months of speculation, West's latest album reveals itself as a trim, 10-song, 40-minute effort that's heavy on electronic and industrial influences. It's also another piece of the puzzle to one of pop music's most compelling — and frustrating — figures.
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Mvula's debut is ambitiously distinct and confident, as if she and her band had perfected their sound years ago but only now decided to share it with everyone else.
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New York's Charles Bradley and London's James Hunter Six both mix inspiration and replication.
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R&B singers Nicole Wray and Terri Walker both had promising starts to their careers more than a decade ago, but neither became a household name. Now they've teamed up and traded in slick, hip-hop influenced styles for a decidedly throwback feel.
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Since the singer's first single became a breakout hit in 1971, he's recorded nine albums, and all of them are now available on a new box set.
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Carly Rae Jepsen and Kanye West both released albums today that double down on their summer success.
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The New York group was best known for a series of crossover pop hits recorded with everyone from The Beach Boys to Chubby Checker. Fat Boys had faded from the spotlight by the 1990s, but a new reissue makes a case for the group as more than just a gimmick.
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A 1970s explosion in affordable music gear, particularly synthesizers and drum machines, yielded fascinating experiments by amateur artists. A new compilation collects electronic soul gems from that era.
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Producer Robert Williams and his studio Red, Black and Green Productions were behind some of Washington's biggest R&B hits in the 1970s.
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Toronto-based philosopher Marshall McLuhan's 1967 musique-concrete LP gets a second look.